In the Season of Hope
by Haru-shira-kun
Summary: America is jealous of England's friendship with Denmark and Prussia, what he sees as his only barrier preventing  himself and England from being in a relationship.  So what happens when Denmark and Prussia are away for a week? Christmas fic.


**A/N: **Hey there guys. This is my third Christmas fic.

This was written for **cannibal_plum **on livejournal for the USUK community's 2011 Secret Santa. The prompt:

"Jealous America over England's friendship with Denmark and Prussia, would love if they're in a newly established relationship with one another."

I'm really nervous about this though…because I was struggling with the prompt I'm not sure if it's the way they want it… _

Anyways…here's my story! Hope you enjoy! Especially you, **cannibal_plum**!

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all!

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

December 16th. I slammed my locker closed, zipped up my jacket and exited the Hetalia World Academy. I sighed loudly, watching my cloud of breath dissipate into the freezing December air. TGIF, I thought. It's been a long freaking week.

Maybe it's just the arrival of winter. I looked down at my feet, violently packing the snow into the ground. This season always gets me down. Between the sopping wet floor when I enter my house with snowy boots and the wind that feels like freaking icicles on my face, I say it's a pretty good excuse to feel like crap. I guess there _is_ Christmas to look forward to…but it's still 9 days away – and God. I _hate _waiting. Plus, you really gotta consider: I'm America. And most people in America, as much as they hate to admit it, see Christmas as that awesome time when for once in your life you get exactly what you want, neatly wrapped in shiny green and red paper. I laughed out loud, startling Latvia as I walked past. I got a mental image about getting what I wanted wrapped up all fancy like that. Though, after a while, my laughing subsided. Like that's ever going to happen anytime soon. I buried my reddened face in my scarf. What-! They're red from the cold, of course!

Ah, who am I kidding? I might as well begin from the start.

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Or just England for short. To say the least…I have a thing for him. And I'd love to act on that thing, but there's one stupid reason I can't:

His friends. That's the biggest challenge ever.

Denmark and Prussia stick to him like glue. It's _ridiculous_. I mean, technically Prussia's not even supposed to _be _at H.W.A. anymore. Didn't he get like, taken by Russia or something? (World history's never been my strong suit. American history, on the other hand…) Denmark – yeah, I won't even go there. The point is: there's no way I could ever get to speak to him with those two around. They're like…I don't know. England to Prussia and Denmark is like Batman to Robin and another Robin, and it drives me crazy.

I flung my backpack across the entranceway when I got home. Smoke rose from the general direction of the kitchen – my brother was already home, making dinner. I shouted to him that I didn't want any and took the stairs to the basement two at time, flopping on the bed in my room by a space heater. I was sort of in winter hibernation mode already.

Closing my eyes, the image of England wrapped in red and green paper came back to me. My mind added little details to it. There was a little tag hanging off the paper by his shoulder that said:

**For America**

**Merry Christmas,**

**With Love.**

He stood between the fireplace and the Christmas tree. As my mind's eye took a step closer, I saw he was wearing nothing _but_ the wrapping paper.

I squirmed in my bed and hugged the pillow to my chest. I'm amazed at the quality of these little fantasies that I manage to come up with.

I saw myself reaching out a hand to peel off the single piece of tape holding the whole…um…package together. But just as my fingers touched it two hands grabbed my wrist. I looked at the source of the hands and growled internally. Prussia and Denmark. They were talking to him and he was smiling at them and they were patting him on the back and ruffling his hair and getting way too close for my comfort. I got angry, so I ripped my arm out of their grip and punched them both in the face, knocking both to the ground and bringing myself back to reality.

I was frustrated. I scowled at my pillow and punched it as if it were to blame. So my anger was mostly vented, and I sighed.

I love him. I knew that, and I'd known it for a while. Unfortunately, it wasn't that sappy kind of love you see in one of those bittersweet romance things, where as long as the other person is happy the one in love is happy. I really want to _be _with him. I want to walk down the street holding hands, go out to the movies, share a kiss at on New Year's, and just be idiots together (gits, as he would say).

But let's get serious: it's not gonna happen. The scene I've seen every day for years in the hallways of World Academy was of England walking in front of me, Denmark's arm slung comfortably around his shoulders, Prussia doing something stupid in front of them, and all three laughing like lunatics. I got overwhelmed by jealousy and almost physical _pain_ at just the thought. I immediately rolled over and went to sleep, hoping to stay like that for the entire weekend.

Of course it didn't turn out like that though, ha-ha. I ended up waking to a growling stomach a half hour later and sprinting for the emergency supply of leftover burgers in the fridge. After an unbearable two minutes of microwaving, I sat at the table and immediately began wolfing the stuff down.

"So it's gotten worse, eh?"

I jumped at the voice. I had _not _realized that Canadia – oops – Canada was at the table with me.

"What has?" I said, even though I knew what he was talking about. This guy was the one other person who knew about my thing for England and my jealousy of his friends because of the irritated rants I often ended up going on once I got home.

"Your situation in this insane jealously game."

I pretended my mouth was too full of burger to talk.

When he realized I wasn't gonna answer, Canada continued. "You need to do something about this crazy crush."

I put down my burger. "I know, man. I just have no idea _what_ to do." I paused. "I mean, am I supposed to just go and shove Denmark aside and be like, to England, 'hey dude, I have this huge crush on you, will you go out with me, please say yes'? Cause I really don't think it's that easy. England and those two bastards would just look at each other and laugh about it."

My brother pondered this. "You don't do something that drastic. Think about it this way. Nations who start off as just allies or friends or something often become more than that – like Austria and Hungary. Countries who barely know each other are not going to go anywhere with a relationship until they know each other well. Make sense?"

I nodded. It did. While Prussia and Denmark had a better chance of being with England (as much as I hated that) because of how close they were, I had a better chance of it than, say, China did. England and I were closer than that, at least.

"So how do I get to him then?" I wondered out loud.

He shrugged. "Do something for him that would better than anything either of them have done."

"Like…?"

"That's the part you have to figure out. And if you really like the guy as much as you say you do, it won't be hard." Canada stood up and took a breath. "As much as I hate to say this, you're a hero, America. Like all the great ones, you'll know what to do when the time comes. You don't need to think too much about it."

I grinned at him. "Thanks bro," I said, clapping him on the shoulder. It's times like these, when I remember that he's the greatest inspiration I know, that I feel awful for constantly overshadowing him as a nation. With spirits lifted and jealousy calmed enough, I continued my usual evening and the winter weekend that followed it.

o-o-o

December 19th. Monday morning, there were already less of us at the Academy: many nations had already gone home to spend their winter holidays, whatever those may be. As soon as I noticed this, my thoughts brightened. Maybe Prussia and Denmark would be gone! Maybe it wouldn't even be a struggle to get closer to England, if I had this whole week! It didn't even have to be both of them away. Even if one wasn't there, maybe I could just edge in…

My heart pounded turning the corner to the European home division of the Academy (basically just where their lockers live) – partly from having to climb all those stupid stairs, partly from nervousness of possibly running into the trio face-to-face.

Lady Luck or whoever must have been smiling down on me that day. Smiling _real _hard, 'cause I had gotten exactly what I wanted. England was without his usual companions, standing on a chair to hang some holly over a classroom door. I watched him struggle with tape and scissors for a while before speaking up.

"Why not use mistletoe instead of holly?" I said. My voice came out surprisingly even.

England nearly fell off the chair in shock. He saw me grinning stupidly and his features relaxed. He turned away again. "Oh, hello America." He paused a moment before answering my question. "Do you _really_ want to see every person who enters the room start snogging in front of you?"

I shrugged. I didn't really have anything against PDA. "Guess not," I said anyway.

We fell silent and I continued to watch him fighting with the holly leaves and tape and stuff. "Here, let me do it," I said, stepping up on the chair beside him. Our bodies and hands brushed as he handed me the stuff and stepped off. I closed my eyes for a moment, just feeling the contact. Then I got to work.

After so much relying on tape to repair every one of my problems, I had become kind of a pro at using it. I didn't really need to pay attention, instead focusing on whatever it was England was doing behind me. He seemed a little…off…today, for some reason. His hair was even more dishevelled than usual. I spoke up. "So anyways, where are the b- where are Prussia and Denmark?" I asked him.

I saw him shrug out of the corner of my eye. "They were dying of hangovers, last I heard. They'll be here tomorrow."

Oh. So it wasn't a whole week that I had. Had to make the best of just the one day.

I stepped down from the chair, having finished hanging the holly.

"Mmm. They were at a party or something yesterday?" I turned to face him; he was standing like three feet away. I hated how much distance we had between us when he'd practically be walking arm in arm with Denmark. It felt like we were just vague acquaintances.

England yawned. "Not really. The three of us just got found Prussia's brother's beer stash the other day. M' sure you could guess where that led."

Yeah, I could. And it pissed me off that those two got to know a side of England I'd never seen before. I acted neutral. "Hmm. So you can hold your liquor or something, huh? You're fine today."

He gave me a funny look and stepped closer. I think my face got a bit red. "Yeah…no," he said, pointing out his eyes sagging with tiredness and the off-colour of his face. I should have noticed that earlier. Normally he'd already have corrected my grammar about 50 times.

"Ah." I nodded in understanding. "Been there, done that. Wasn't fun."

At this point the bell rang. I was reluctant to move. Well, jeez, how many times would I ever get enough time to talk to him without the two idiots jumping into the conversation? England didn't seem to want to go anywhere either, but that was probably 'cause of the hangover. I handed him the tape. Our fingers brushed again.

I straightened up. "Well, if you need a ride home or something, just come find me in North America division at lunch or whenever, 'kay?" I said.

"Will do." He gave me an actual smile (I'd never gotten one from him before!) before I waved and practically skipped away from there in happiness.

I did in fact end up giving him a ride home that day. Neither of us are the greatest conversationalists in the world, but we still chatted a bit about school and the holidays and stuff. He brought up Prussia and Denmark more than a couple times, saying how he'd be with them for a New Year's party that would be 'bloody awesome', and how in class the three of them would always end up somehow provoking some teacher to chuck a book at them out of annoyance. I pretended to be interested while I was snarling on the inside. Anyway, when we got to his place, he thanked me for dropping him off and said we should do something sometime.

Needless to say I was floating on air for the remainder of the day. Canada kept giving me looks all evening that said 'what the hell happened to you?' as I'd walk by, humming euphorically.

Things were looking up.

o-o-o

December 23rd.

I spent this entire morning – the last Friday before the holidays – thinking of how great the week had been. Denmark and Prussia hadn't shown up the entire time. England had given me various reasons for this, probably none of which were true. I'm guessing they'd just gotten lazy and played hooky. The fact that he was always in touch with them outside of school still annoyed me, but that feeling was dulled by the one that indicated we were getting closer each day that they weren't around.

I talked with him every opportunity I got. We made each other laugh – not quite as much as he would be laughing with his other friends, but it was enough to make me giddy. The whole four days reminded me of how short a time it actually took to become great friends with a person – it was happening right then and there. I'd had a couple other nations comment already on how sudden it was to see England and I together before, during and after school. I just grinned at them.

"So what's the status of Prussia and Denmark today?" I asked England as we were walking in the front doors of World Academy.

"They're actually coming."

"Why the last day? There's only like, 10 countries actually here. We're not doing anything." It was true, too. I didn't really see the point.

"That's why they're coming. You know them well enough to see that they're lazy arses." He said this kind of affectionately. As if he appreciated their lazy ass-ness.

"True enough. Probs just coming 'cause its funner to watch movies all day than it is to actually get work done."

"It's _more fun_ to watch movies all day. 'Funner' is not a word."

What did I tell you about the grammar?

"Whatever, dude." I grinned at him.

He punched me in the arm lightly. "You're a git." He said _this _affectionately too, though. Fair enough.

"So anyway-"

"OI ENGLAND!"

We both turned around in time to see Prussia tackle him into the ground. Denmark wasn't far behind.

England laughed. "Get off me, you idiots!" He shook the two off him.

"We've missed you though," Prussia said with mock affection.

England stood up and dusted his pants off. "Whatever. Where the bloody hell have you been for the past week?"

"We told you 'bout it over the phone," Denmark said. "Actually never mind that. We were just playing hooky. Same diff."

They kept chatting, all ignoring me. Occasionally England's glance would flicker over in my direction, but that was it. It got me frustrated. My hands curled into fists, and I felt like punching them, but I didn't. I'm not that stupid: really, would England like it if I punched his friends? Odds are he'd think I was crazy and yell at me for doing something like that. I was trying to win him over, but not by actually acting on my jealousy. So I decided to just walk away around the corner without another word.

"Hey America!"

I turned around. It was England.

"You're driving me home again today," he said, grinning. Prussia and Denmark also turned to stare at me, but I ignored them.

I broke into a smile. "Sure thing," I said. I turned around again and kept going, until I heard Denmark from behind me. I stood against the other wall, out of sight.

"So why you hanging out with America anyways?" he said.

"Well, what was I supposed to do with you two gits skipping the entire week?"

My ears simply tuned out the rest of England's answer.

So that's what he though of me. A substitute. A _freaking_ alternate choice to what he actually wanted. The familiar rage boiled up inside me again and I struggled to keep it down as I stepped back around the corner and spoke up.

"Actually, England," I said loudly, "I can't drop you off today. I just remembered I have to do something. Merry Christmas, see you later." With that I simply ran off, out the school doors and into the cold. The last thing I heard from inside was England's "what the hell?".

When I felt I was far away enough from them, I slowed to a walk, then a halt. I kicked at the snow on the ground, letting the cold stop the boiling jealousy inside me. I leaned against a brick wall, thinking.

Could I ever be more than a substitute to him?

"America?"

Would those two ever leave room for me, a third friend who wanted to be more than that?

"America…"

Was it at all possible for England and I, ever, to be in a real relationship?

"Alfred!" England said.

I immediately started and gasped internally at the use of my human name. It was only, and always, reserved for intimacy. The only one who had ever used it before was Canada during a couple of his really emotional episodes. And I _know_ that England had never called Prussia Gilbert or Denmark Soren before. I looked at him. "Yeah?"

"You heard what I said, didn't you?" He was panting. Did he run here?

"I dunno." I looked down. "What did you say?"

"Don't play stupid with me, Jones. You're thinking I was only hanging around with you this week because Prussia and Denmark weren't there."

"I, uh…" I blushed, unsure of how to answer. How much did he know, exactly?

When he realized I wasn't answering, he went on. "Listen. Those two are great nations. Great _people_. They're my friends, I see them every day! But they're not like you. I stayed around you because you're so…er…I mean… The way they are with me is not at all like…not…like…" It was his turn to blush. He looked at his feet, knowing he's probably said too much without thinking.

My eyes widened. I knew. In that one quick instant, I knew he was feeling the same sort of thing that I was. I closed my mouth, which had seemingly fallen open of its own accord.

I made a daring move in coming closer, tipping his chin up with my hand, and holding it there.

"It's not like this," I said, finishing his sentence for him. I stared into his big green eyes and he stared right back. My heart fluttered.

"Yeah," he breathed.

We stood like that for a while. I grinned. "You know…you're not at all bad, Arthur."

He smiled. Oh, God, that was beautiful. "Merry Christmas Alfred."

"Yeah…uh, Arthur." Arthur. Arthur Arthur Arthur. I wanted to say his name over and over again.

He laughed, and it sounded like wind chimes. I couldn't even help it – I pulled him into a hug, one hand on the back of his head and the other around his shoulders. My nose went to his hair. I closed my eyes and felt him tentatively hug back.

It seemed like years and seconds at the same time before I heard Prussia's voice somewhere in the distance, opened my eyes, and released England – or Arthur, I guess I should say. He stepped back and gave me a look:

_Slowly._

I nodded and gave him a look:

_Hope._

We stood in silence as the unspoken agreement took place.

"I think I'm gonna head home right now, dude," I said, scratching the back of my head awkwardly. "I'll be honest, I dunno if I can handle those two friends of yours yet."

Arthur nodded. I think he understood. "I admit they're a tad difficult to get used to."

I nodded. More silence.

"I guess I'll see you next year then," I said eventually. My voice got carried around by the gusty winter wind.

"Yeah." Could have sworn he looked regretful. "Until then." He smiled, waved, and walked away to join his friends, who I guess had left school to find him. I sighed. The glue holding them together was at work.

As I watched the trio fool around as always, all flailing of arms and legs, I felt the regular pang of jealousy. But this was dulled by the sense that I knew what was going to happen between Arthur and I – and soon. My head spun with excitement and nervousness. I found myself not being able to wait for the _end_ of the holidays, at which point we could start again.

In a way, this was even better than having him delivered as a present to be put under the tree.

I grinned widely at his retreating back.

_Merry Christmas indeed. _

**End**

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Please read and review/comment!

((warnings: very brief mention of Aus/Hun, written in 1st person, US-Can brotherly love [NOT romantic]))


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